The Secretary-General, Michel Jarraud, recently made official visits to a number of Member countries as briefly reported below. He wishes to place on record his gratitude to those Members for the kindness and hospitality extended to him.

by Xu Tang Urbanization is growing rapidly worldwide. At present, 3.2 billion people live in cities, accounting for about 50 per cent of the total population. It is estimated that the number of people living in cities will increase to 5 billion in 2030, which will be about 61 per cent of the total population.